Travelling exposition 2024 info
From November 2023 to Januari 2025, we travel around with a mobile exhibition ‘Weg van de Japanse houtsnede’ on Japanese woodcut throughout several Flemish cities.
The exhibition consists of 3 parts:
- the exhibition itself
- an accompanying publication
- a live demonstration at the exhibition venue
Craftsmanship lives in the heads, hands and hearts of professionals. Unfortunately, craftsmanship often disappears with the craftsmen. Based on the need to preserve craftsmanship, Focus Vakmanschap, in cooperation with various heritage partners, has developed a basic methodology to audiovisually document, share and activate craftsmanship. Discover the various cases, the methodology and toolbox used and the Focus Craftsmanship magazine here.
Our craft, Japanese woodblock printmaking, straddles the line between art and craft. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, we were lucky enough to be chosen as one of the cases in this project. Our collaboration with Focus Craftsmanship has resulted in a beautiful film. The film shows the different stages in the creation of a print: from design to cutting and printing. It also shows our passion, collaboration and research. A second part of the research resulted in our travelling mini-expo ‘The Way of Japanese Woodblock Prints’, where the film is shown continuously, with an accompanying catalogue (Mokublad) and demonstrations. We also gave a lecture and workshops in Bokrijk.
In the exhibition, we provide both a brief historical overview and a visual insight into the different steps of the printing process of a Japanese woodcut by means of working materials, wood plates, prints and a documentary film.
The exhibition concept is based on the idea of a kamishibai: a mobile Japanese theatre. All exhibition components are collected in a specially tailored cabinet (by Atelier OH and Goshia Olchowska) that can be moved from one location to another by bicycle. This cabinet can house all materials such as the paper, wood blocks, paint and tools we need to give a mokuhanga demonstration for the exhibition audience (check the demo dates). It will also be equipped with an iPad so that visitors who could not attend a demonstration can still get an insight into each step of the printing process via a documentary film.
Besides the historical and educational aspect of the exhibition, the second part, the accompanying publication, will introduce visitors to the fascinating and diverse world of contemporary mokuhanga through the works of artists from all over the world who each work with this special medium in their own unique way.
We launched an Open Call and this brought us entries from all over the world! The selected works are published in a small catalogue, the publication Mokublad.
The publication was distributed in all Flemish museums and cultural centres.
All this was made possible with the support of Focus Vakmanschap.
The Mokublad is a kind of newspaper, created in collaboration with TUIG.
We specifically choose this format because it allows us to reach a wide audience and make a reference to the original, approachable and commercial character of Japanese woodcut.